The court in the EU considered the words about Usmanov as "Putin's favorite oligarch" as slander

A court in Hamburg, Germany, ruled on a lawsuit filed by the founder of the USM holding, Alisher Usmanov, against the Austrian newspaper Kurier because it called him President Vladimir Putin's "favorite oligarch" in an article, EU Today reports citing court documents. .

Kurier wrote in one of her materials that Usmanov, a native of Uzbekistan, enjoys a reputation as "Putin's favorite oligarch" and that "Putin himself" considers him such.

The court ruled that such a formulation was not justified. There was no public confirmation of this, and the information provided by the publication in its defense that Usmanov was described as “one of Putin’s favorite oligarchs” in the rationale for EU sanctions was considered insufficient by the court to use this phrase in the article.

"The Kurier newspaper failed to demonstrate the veracity of the slanderous claim that Putin called Usmanov his 'favorite oligarch'," the court documents said. He also noted that such expressions against the businessman violate his rights.

RBC sent a request to Usmanov's representative.

The businessman has been under EU sanctions since February 28, 2022, and the United States , Britain and other countries have also introduced restrictions against him. In August of this year, Usmanov said the sanctions were damaging his reputation and dismissed the claim that he could be considered an oligarch because he was not involved in privatization and was not a recipient of "doubtful aid from the state."

The businessman, as reported by Bloomberg , applied to the EU court in April last year to challenge the sanctions. In the fall, searches were carried out at his villas in Germany. According to the German portal Tagesschau, the raids were linked to Usmanov's allegations of tax evasion, money laundering and sanctions violations.

In November 2022, Usmanov's press service told RBC that there were no grounds for suspicions of money laundering or tax evasion against the businessman, "the origin of his money is absolutely transparent."

In May of this year, a German court declared the searches of the businessman illegal. In August, Usmanov also went to court in connection with what he considers a violation of the search on the yacht Dilbar, which had previously been “frozen” in Hamburg.